April8th

A bill that would exempt some Department of Enterprise Services employees from competitive contracting passed the Senate on a partisan vote of 25 to 23 on Friday evening. That means they could not offer competing bids if the work they do is farmed out to the private sector.

Senate Bill 5891 was a less far-reaching measure than a contracting out measure sponsored by Republican Sen. Michael Baumgartner of Spokane, but it targets technology services, as Baumgartner’s had. “This assumes $15 million in savings, which I believe is conservative,” Baumgartner said Friday.

April5th

As we reported previously, the Washington Federation of State Employees and other labor groups reacted with a mixture of relief about pay and worry about healthcare after the Senate released its Republican-crafted budget Wednesday. But federation lobbyist Dennis Eagle went further in an email sent Thursday evening to Senate members who may be voting on the $33.2 billion Republican-crafted spending plan later today.

In particular Eagle pointed to $131 million in unspecified “administrative efficiencies” that are among the uncertain financing pieces of the spending plan – not to mention an assumption agencies will have some $120 million …